The Good Thing

 Oops, I did it again... slept in, that is.  To be honest, it wasn't as though I went to bed last night at 11 PM and slept the entire night away.  For some reason, I've been waking up around 0200.  Most nights I just wait to fall back to sleep.  Last night I put that time to good use.  I made notes on The Body Under Ice.  I'm finishing off the final chapter and, as always, there are points that have to be explained.  Sometimes those changes are no more than adding a simple sentence earlier in the book.  You know, simple things say so much.

And the screw in the title refers to one of he several securing the control panel of my treadmill.  Repairs are complete!  It's be lubricated and the belt has been centered.  The only thing missing is that one little screw.  It fell into the space below the motor and the only way to get it out is by turning the treadmill onto its side.  Well, that ain't gonna happen.  There are 4 other screws holding the control panel in place, so I'm not too worried about it coming lose.

Here's a bit of a funny.  Yesterday, Madonna announced her Celebration Tour.  While she does have her loyal fans her are overjoyed, most of what I've been seeing on Social Media has not been kind.  There are comments about the standard 2 hour delay before her show starts, could this be how she proves to herself that her fans will wait an eternity to see her show, to comments about carbon dating to ensure it's the true Madonna.  One fan, desperate to prove his loyalty Tweeted out "sure, she looks weird, but it's still Madonna."   Honestly, I think she's looking pretty good for an aging Asian woman.😎😎😎

Of course, Americans concerned about Democracy are unhappy with the House committee assignments.  People are wondering how George Santos could be put on 2 committees.  Well, you have to remember that Republicans don't give a shit about America.  They are selfish and self-centered.  They also know many of their campaign contributions come from corporations who also don't give a shit about America.    Republicans don't understand that for every action, there is a reaction.  They truly believe that they can act and everyone will accept what they do.  They barely scrape by with a majority in the House during the midterms and they are treating it as though they have a mandate.  They will never learn.  They do not consider what the consequences will be, only that they need to say "shut up, we're in charge."  They are going to fail horribly.  That's a good thing.  

Precisely

 A new work week has arrived.  Notice my exuberance.  

They are forecasting rain for my weekend, which begins tomorrow, with high temps in the mid 50's (F).  Hopefully, I'll get some yardwork in between the showers.  Dahlias need to go into the ground in the front yard.  Lots of tuplipy things are sticking out of the dirt already.  And there are the dahlias.  My peonies are also sticking their buds above the soil.  And, of course, my roses are filled with budding leaves.

The Grammy's were on last night.  Meh.  I didn't' watch.  Pop music is so ephemeral.  No matter what you might want to believe, the timeless songs are very few and very far between.  Time has no problem burying trendy musical hooks.  I got into a discussion with a gent at the store about this very subject, and he said "look at all the great things Beyoncé is doing with music!  She'll be around forever!"  I replied, "they said the same thing about Madonna."  And he said, "What?  she's old!"  And I said, "precisely."

And tell me, does this look like the face of the most evil man on the planet?

I saw where someone had Tweeted that Joe Biden said "Rupert Murdoch is the most dangerous man in the world."  I believe that's a rather precise definition.  At 91, he maintains control over Fox News, and this bitter, old man has always desperately wanted to be a key player in politics.  He was a problem in the UK that was only solved by a legally forced separation: he was basically buying politicians.  The same thing is happening in the US with the Republican Party.  Here he buys them with frequent appearances on Fox News.  His mouthpieces are pro-Putin, and pro-Republican, spewing out lie, after lie, after lie.  As a result, the GOP, much to his delight, relies upon him.  That is precisely what he wants.  If there is any joy in American politics, it's that the political party he owns is blindly stabbing itself in the eye, and in the back, and in the foot, and, thanks to Loser #45, in the heart.

Cracker Soup

Well, it's Sunday... and I get to go back to work.  For 3 days, and then my weekend begins.  My schedule for Thanksgiving week is crappy.  Off on Thanksgiving, working Black Friday and Saturday and then off on Sunday.  Nobody buys flooring on Black Friday.  That doesn't mean we're not going to get bubble-brained morons asking what are 'special' is...  I always point to appliances saying "go buy a $2500 refrigerator, that's where our deals are."  If you're interested in buy a washer, or dryer, now is the best time of the year - all of our others sales are mere shadows of what the discounts are now.
Yesterday morning I walked onto my front porch and saw all the leaves had fallen off my gingko.  Have you any idea how that feels?  Knowing your gingko is naked?  I took pictures hoping to drum up a little sympathy since... well... now it looks so... woody.

I saw where a Class Action suit has been filed against Madonna.  People are fed up with paying good money for a show and having her show up 2 hours late.  Her comment was "the queen is never late."  Someone needs to sit her 61 year old ass down and remind her she's doing 'smaller venue' shows because ticket sales from her last arena tour were... lackluster... yeah, lackluster is a good word for her ticket sales.  Her die-hard fans will always show up, but they're getting older and their patience is beginning to wear thin.
I saw where the Idiot Jerk in the White House went to a college football game in the deeply red south and was... cheered.  At this point in his failing Republican political career this is to be expected.  I know this is going way back, but the same thing happened after Nixon's failed re-election extravaganza.  The Republican Party became highly regionalized.  Only in the deep south, scarlet red and highly Christianized south did they stand of chance of winning elections.  This is happening again.  However, this time they have a problem.  The deep south is diversifying far more quickly than their Conservative white minds can comprehend.  They're going to realize there might not be enough crackers down there to make a decent bowl of soup.
And finally.  A lot of us have experienced the single brain celled antics of troll.  Mildred was right when she pointed out how hysterically this person is in his desperate attempt to be disruptive.  Right now I'm simply deleting the comments.  That's what this person deserves... to be deleted.  If it continues I start moderating the comments.  Eliminating them before they see the light of day is no skin off my back.

Facebook Flap

Evidently there is a big flap going on right now about Facebook's decision to enforce a rule they've had for some time - you need to use your real name for your personal accounts.  I can understand the concern some in the gay and lesbian community might have for this.  I also understand that one of the reasons for this rule is to curtail predatory behavior.  This is a bit of a dilemma. What I do find amusing is drag personas clamoring about how this rule does not seem to apply to all people.  One of the names they throw out is Madonna's.  I looked at Madonna's page and it's identified as a fan site and fan sites are allowed.    What makes this even more amusing is that Madonna is her real name, not a stage name.  She's not really Ruthie Ciccone (sp) from Detroit, she's Madonna Ciccone (sp).

aka Madonna

They've also bandied about Lady Gaga, and her's, too, is a fan page.

Now I'm not saying this isn't a problem for a certain group of people, but there is a bit of a difference between safeguarding your privacy and dealing with an ego inconvenience.  

Gold Standard

A few days ago I was slightly chastised for getting two song titles wrong in a piece I'd written about musical artists who have failed to create a standard.  Aw, well, that's life, I'm not perfect.  Rather the mute, or nullify my point, my error did more to emphasize the fact that the songs are... forgettable.  It's a bit embarrassing about the Elton John song, since I've seen him in concert 4 times and he's played that one song each time.  However, we do forget.  This is what time does.  We either forget it or remember it.  This is how standards are created.  For those who don't know what a standard is, Webster defines it as "a musical piece of sufficiently enduring popularity to be made part of a permanent repertoire."  

Anyway, since I get to talk to quite a number of people every day, I decided to do a little survey.  From a list of several artists (Prince, Elton John, Madonna, Billy Joel, and Bon Jovi), I asked 72 people which song they remembered the most. Seventeen people said they couldn't think of a single song. Bad news for Billy Joel - he didn't get any votes.  Prince got 2 for "Little Red Corvette."  Bon Jovi got 8 for "Living on a Prayer." (?)  Madonna got 14 votes for 3 different songs, "Like a Virgin," was her number one vote getter with 7.  Elton John got the most votes with 48, however that's misleading.  Nine people voted for "The Circle of Life," but 35 more just voted for "The Lion King," which is a movie.  That's right, if you just count song titles, Madonna beats Elton John by one.  Does that mean one of her songs is going to be a standard?  Of course, the answer is no. I suspect having your song attached to a hit movie, and a Disney movie to be more precise, increases the probability.

In fact, thinking back on all the popular music written, there probably is only one true standard and that was song by a teenage girl a long time ago in a little movie called "The Wizard of Oz."

So, I'm wondering if anything out there can ever even compete with this?  Or did Judy Garland set the all time gold standard?    I suspect we'll have to wait 75 years and see how well that song from Frozen does.

      

People might hate me for saying this

Last week was Madonna's birthday... so what?  Now I know she has her legions of aging fans out there who live and breath Madonna, me?  I could care less.  Of course, I've never been a fan.  The truth is I purchased one of her discs (the one with that crucifixion video), listened to it two or three times, and gave it away.  Without the video, that song had no legs to stand on.  So it is with all of her music.  Because of this, history is going to be less and less kind to her and in the end she will be a small blip on the musical radar of the late 20th century.  Her biggest downfall is that she failed to write (and I use that word loosely) a standard. There is no "Your Song," in her repertoire, no "Goodbye, Norma Jean."  Look at Whitney Houston.  She took a Dolly Parton throw-away, from a bad version of a good Broadway musical, and turned it into a standard.  That's not going to happen with "Like a Virgin," or "Poppa Don't Preach."  They may have been trendy songs and kept her name in the spotlight, but trends pass.  If you go to a concert these days, it is far more likely the band is going to break into a rendition of "Saturday's Alright for Fighting," then they are "Vogue."  You are more likely to hear a Rolling Stone song, or a Beatles song, then you are one of Madonna's.

Fans will say I don't know what I'm talking about, but I do.  I work in retail.  I hear the music which gets played over and over again.  You know those songs that are supposed to keep people in the aisles so they spend more money?  I hear all kinds of music from greatest hits, to current pop music, even country now and then.  They never play Madonna.  People will hate me for saying this.  You know, those devotees who just can not believe she, like her music, will be here today and gone tomorrow.

    

Grammy's fail

True to form, I did not watch the Grammy Awards this past Sunday.  From what I've read, I don't believe I missed much, except for Daft Punk.  Space suits and helmets - yeah!  Evidently Beyoncé wore lace - who cares?  Not me.  I don't own a single Beyoncé tune.  So I didn't miss that.  The "Same Love" performance probably seemed like a good idea to a few people yet I think it was probably a mistake.  Just because a small number of states (what is it?  12) have legalized same sex marriage doesn't mean the vast majority of the viewing audience really wanted to see 33 couples getting married on live TV.  It makes no difference if some of the couples were straight and some were gay, this is not something the American audience may not be ready to see in Prime Time, so don't shove it down their throats.  then, for some bizarre reason, they included that media whore Madonna.  If I remember correctly, this woman recently exploited her son on Instagram to keep her name in the spotlight - sounded a bit desperate to me.

Going above and beyond

Then there was the faux Beatle reunion.  I had heard rumors this was going to take place and, for a moment, thought of turning on the broadcast just to watch this historic moment.  But then reason took over.  Would I really get a chance to see the two surviving Beatles do a quick medley of three or four of their songs?  Logic dictated otherwise.  Yoko Ono stupidly sold the Beatle catalog for about 400 million.  The stupid woman did not realize the Beatles were not just another boy band so somebody else (maybe Sony?) owns the rights.  This grates Paul to no end.  Besides, Paul is dealing with his own ego, he is Sir Paul McCartney you know, and he is still writing and recording music very few people buy.  So, I suspect when the suggestion was first broached to him about a possible reunion with Ringo, the first thought that went through his pinhead was "hey, I can play one of my new songs."  The idea that the two of them doing a medley of Beatle songs would make history and, most likely, shatter the Twitter universe probably never occurred to him.  Missing Paul McCartney, with his puffy face and puffy hair, and Ringo Starr (looking pretty good for his age) playing McCartney's latest non-hit meant I missed nothing.  This is why I don't waste 3 hours of my life watching the Garmmy's.